Assemblyman Ruben Ramos, a Hoboken Democrat representing the 33rd District, is also chairman of the Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Gaming committee. Ramos has announced his panel is holding a hearing next Thursday about the possibility of bringing casino gambling to the Meadowlands.

The way state pols and hacks (sorry for the redundancy) handled Atlantic City gambling and the development within the Meadowlands Sports Complex -- primarily Xanadu and the decades without connecting mass transit -- I'm surprised there's an attempt at any discussion.

Then again, these politicians should understand that they are way too late for just talking about casinos in North Jersey.

The State of New York casinos are killing Atlantic City. Then again, every state is murdering the Garden State's gaming industry and in the process putting New Jersey's horse racing business in the obituaries.

Aqueduct Racetrack over in Queens opened casino gaming to the public last October. We're talking mostly slots at the track's Resorts World. In May, it was announced that this site received $57.5 million in slots revenue. It was the highest one-month total of any casino in the nation.

Of course the casino owners at nine of New York's horse racetracks are petitioning to expand their casino operations to include gaming tables for craps, roulette, poker and more. The money these casino games are making is subsidizing those tracks, providing larger purses that attract better horses and with them, gamblers.

How popular was the racetrack at one time? In the 1960s, the horses outdrew baseball. People like to bet the horses, but they don't like to go to the track anymore because casino betting is much quicker. The action is almost every second. Horses take a half-hour between races.

People who have many years of knowledge about gambling of the legit and illegal variety believe that next you will see big hotels going up at the racetracks. The gaming industry will keep growing while New Jersey sleeps.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is looking for full-fledged casinos and is offering an amendment to the Empire State's Constitution to accomplish the expansion. The difference is rather than at the tracks, he envisions placing the casinos at "destinations." New York will take about a year to discuss this next phase.

"You'll see casinos go up at places like Coney Island," said Assemblyman Ramos, who says New Jersey has to move quickly. Translation: It may take several years.

The legislator said the gaming hearing at noon at the Hambletonian Room at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford could last a lengthy six to seven hours. There are about 18 invited guests to explain what it would mean to have a casino a stone's throw from Hudson County.

"We want to see a large casino resort that will draw people from the tri-state region and provide much needed revenue and jobs to this state," he said, sounding like a prepared statement.

Ramos is not the first state legislator to want casino gambling in the Meadowlands.
In 2007, Assemblyman Louis Manzo, a Jersey City Democrat, pushed for it to help with the state's deficits. Gov. Jon Corzine was noncommittal (circular file) and of course the South Jersey politicians looked at it as a threat to Atlantic City. Manzo called the Meadowlands proposal similar to having a Reno next to a Las Vegas.

Opposition will again come from South Jersey. They don't realize that what is happening to the Jersey Shore's gaming capital is their fault. Atlantic City was built to attract Philadelphia gamblers who now prefer to stay in their state.

Pennsylvania's casino revenues increased 21 percent last year, by about $3 billion. By contrast, the 11 casinos in Atlantic City saw a 7 percent decline, by $3.3 billion. Since then a new casino has opened, Revel, but it's doubtful it will make a big difference for this year's tally.

Atlantic City needs to mimic Las Vegas and become a destination, but the pols lied about revitalizing the shoreline city. It is still a depressed area. The casinos and beach are still "walled off" from the rest of the troubled municipality, where street crimes have killed off any notion of Atlantic City mimicking Vegas as a "destination." Oh sure, "The World's Favorite Playground" offers great shows and stars at the casinos and it is about to unveil plans and renderings for a water-theme park for the southern end of the city. It's all too little and too late.

Here at the Meadowlands, there's talk about the new developer of the former Xanadu mega-mall planning for a Universal/DreamWorks indoor theme park as part of the reincarnated project. It seems to go with a "destination" casino site that's closer to Manhattan than Coney Island. I'm betting it will work, but I'm not so sure the NFL's Giants and Jets are happy about it.

POLITICAL INSIDER

INSIDER NOTES

-- One of the more interesting items on this week's Hudson County Board of Freeholders meeting was a resolution awarding a $22,000 contract to the Historic Preservation Network "to prepare a report on Building 77 in South Kearny to see if it meets federal grant requirements."

The county administration needs to know whether the structure has any historic significance before tearing it down. There is one problem. Building 77 has already been "demolished," according to several county officials.

Historic Preservation is expected to go through paperwork and renderings to make its analysis. My question is what happens if they deem it historic. Will the county have to rebuild it, brick by original brick?

The facility was expected to be refurbished and provide warehouse space for the Department of Corrections and house the county Office of Emergency Management, including a control center. It was to be a "green" building, with wind turbines and more.

A bit of history:

The building was located on a peninsula between the Hackensack and Passaic rivers. It was part of federal shipyards during the first half of the 20th Century where they built more destroyers than anyone except the Bath Iron Works on the Kennebec River in Maine.

-- Last month, former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler showed up at the street naming ceremony for the Rev. Fernando Colon, 79, at the intersection of Wayne Street and Baldwin Avenue. Right away there was speculation that Schundler was expected to run on Mayor Jerramiah Healy's ticket for the May city election. Let's kill the early rumors now.

"It must be the season," said Schundler on Thursday. "My days of running for elected office are over. I am only interested in education."

If there is any consolation for election junkies, former schools superintendent and ex-assemblyman Charles Epps is still expected to run on Healy's slate -- to stay connected with the community. There has been no announcement, but the only question is whether he runs at large or for the Ward A seat. Ego says it will be at large, although some supporters say if Healy loses, then so does Epps, so he would have a better shot at running for a ward.

I say running for a ward means hard work, including almost daily door-to-door personal contact -- which is why he runs at large. It would be less wear and tear on the royal robes.

View full sizeJournal file photoArea resident dashes across the North Hudson "Gaza Strip" at 32nd Street and Kennedy Boulevard.

-- Another freeholder resolution gave Flanagan's Contracting Group a time extension for constructing a pedestrian bridge over Kennedy Boulevard at 32nd Street, where there is a difficult pedestrian crossing at a very busy thoroughfare. It connects North Bergen and Union City. The contractor says approvals were handled very quickly by North Bergen (Mayor and Sen. Nick Sacco), but there seems to be a bit of lengthy foot dragging by Union City (Mayor and Sen. Brian Stack).

Is this Hudson's Gaza Strip? Is there a reluctance by Union City to have any physical contact with its next door neighbor?

-- Former Hoboken school board member Frank Raia's summer bash on his birthday was a big success Thursday evening -- if you go by the number of booted cars near Sinatra Park, where the festivities took place.